Ayatollah Fazel Lankarani passed from this world on June 16. It had only been a few days since he had released a statement condemning the recent attack on the Askariyyah shrine of Samarra.

AIMIslam reported:"The grand Ayatollah, who had millions of followers inside and outside Iran, recently moved to Tehran from the holy city of Qom to receive medical treatment but after his treatment proved unsatisfactory and his general health conditions deteriorated, he sadly departed from this world on Saturday, June 16, 2007.

"Ayatollah Lankarani was born in 1931 in the holy city of Qom. At the age of 19, he started attending lessons in Fiqh (Jurisprudence) and Usul (Principles of Jurisprudence) at the highest level of Islamic studies, which were being taught by the late Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Muhammad Hussein Burujerdi (may Allah elevate his status). Due to his academic excellence, perseverance and ability, he was able to attain the level of Ijithad at the early age of 25; a rank that his eminent teacher, the late Ayatollah Sayyid Muhammad Hussein Burujerdi gave to him in writing."

Lankarani was a leading proponent of the Islamic revolution in Iran as well as a close friend of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.